Eliza Frances Packard

Immigration: 1846 "Benecia" To Nelson

COLONIST, 20 January 1906

Death of an Old Settler - Tākaka, January 19.
I regret to report the death this morning of Mrs Joseph Packard, senior, of Clifton, one of the first settlers to land in the oldest settlement in this province, namely, Clifton. The deceased lady had just attained her eighty-third birthday, and, along with her husband, who is still hale and well, she celebrated her golden wedding some five years ago. Deceased had been ailing and delicate for some few years now, but until this week no immediate danger was anticipated, and the sad news this morning has cast a gloom over everyone in the district, relations or otherwise, as the worthy old couple have spent a long, useful, and praiseworthy lifetime in our midst, and have brought up a family in a manner that has earned universal respect for them. Also sympathy is felt with all their family of children, grandchildren, and great - grandchildren. The old lady's death is the first death to the family record in Tākaka, which makes the blow doubly hard for the bereaved husband and the descendants.

COLONIST, 5 February 1906
The funeral of the late Mrs Joseph Packard, whose death I reported last week, took place on Sunday, and was a most impressive sight. It is estimated that over eighty conveyances of all kinds and some fifty horsemen followed the remains to their last resting place in the Motupipi Cemetery, those present numbering probably over four hundred people. A fitting idea from this may be gauged of the respect and esteem borne toward the old couple by all residents of the district. The Rev. A. H. Heron performed the funeral ceremony in an impressive manner, and the scene at the grave, where all with bared heads were bowed in grief, will long be remembered by those present. I hear that the aged lady and her worthy husband were married at an early age in London, and came out in the sailing ship Bernicia in 1848, the voyage occupying four months. After living a short while in Motueka, the plucky pair came across to Motupipi in a small craft, which simply dumped the two pioneers of Golden Bay on the beach above high water mark and sailed away again. Mr Packard named the locality Clifton, after his own second name. As far as is known, Mr and Mrs Packard were the first white people to land in Golden Bay, and for fifty years they have dwelt within a mile or so of where they first landed. Many tales of early struggles, and dangers could the old people tell tales that would make strangers credulous, but strictly true for all that. Tales of Maori taking their first-born son from them and keeping him, a mere infant, away from his parents for perhaps a fortnight at a time, returning the child safe and sound again to the heart-broken parents. Tales of being on the verge of starvation, the Maoris coming to a timely rescue with presents of wild pork. Through joys and sorrows the couple kept together, rearing a family, who in turn took to adjoining lands and marrying, in their turn brought up families and the old lady lived to see the fourth generation of her honorable family. The deceased lady, though she went through such troubles and rough times in her younger days, was never very robust, and nothing but sheer pluck and a steadfast faith carried her to the ripe age of eighty-two years. The old gentleman, who is two years his wife's junior, is as hardy and as active as any of his sons still, though naturally the loss of such a life-long partner has been a dreadful blow for him. It was a proud boast of the old couple that in the whole of their married life they had never had a cross word or disagreement of any kind, which must surely be almost a record. The sorrowing husband and his relatives may rest assured that they have, in their great grief, the respectful sympathy and esteem of the entire community of Golden Bay.